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As technologies for simultaneously maintaining the current high thermal efficiency of diesel engines and reducing particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions, many new combustion concepts have been proposed, including premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) and low-temperature combustion[1]. However, it is well known that since such new combustion techniques precisely control combustion temperatures and local air-fuel ratios by varying the amount of air, the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) ratio and the fuel injection timing, they have the issues of being less stable than conventional combustion techniques and of performance that is subject to variance in the fuel and driving conditions. This study concerns a system that addresses these issues by detecting the ignition timing with in-cylinder pressure sensors and by controlling the fuel injection timing and the amount of EGR for optimum combustion onboard.

There has been strong public demand for reduced hazardous exhaust gas emissions and improved fuel economy for automobile engines. In recent years, a number of innovative solutions that lead to a reduction in fuel consumption rate have been developed, including in-cylinder direct injection and lean burn combustion technologies, as well as an engine utilizing a large volume of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). Furthermore, a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine is under development for actual application. However, one of the issues common to these technologies is less stable combustion, which causes difficulty in engine management. Additionally, it is now mandatory to provide an onboard diagnosis (OBD) system. This requires manufacturers to develop a technology that allows onboard monitoring and control of the combustion state. This paper reports on an innovative combustion diagnostic method using an in-cylinder pressure sensor.

A new Variable Valve Event and Lift (VVEL) system has been developed as an effective technology for reconciling environmental performance such as lowering the fuel consumption and exhaust emissions with driving performance. This system can continuously vary both the intake valve lift and event angle (valve opening duration) over a wide operating range to flexibly control the valve timing and lift for a substantial improvement in engine performance. In developing the variable valve lift control system, the essential merit is based on the fundmental configuration of multiple-link mechanism. However, it is required to resolve tribological issues for the specific mechnism. This paper describes the structure of the VVEL system and its operating and motion conversion principles. It also explains the mechanism analysis, dynamic stress analysis and lubrication simulation techniques used in developing the VVEL system, the materials adopted and the surface treatment techniques applied.

We have attempted to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy of a small utility engine running with a lean A/F ratio under partial load conditions in the most frequent operating mode. However this caused undesirable hunching and many difficulties for running the engine at a lean A/F ratio. We derived the necessary amount of engine speed changes from the relationship between the spark timing and torque to control the hunching by adjusting the spark timing at various engine speeds. The method improved emissions and fuel economy, and made it possible to run the engine smoothly from low engine speed to higher speeds at a high load rating.

Much effort has been devoted to studies on auto-ignition engines of gasoline including homogeneous-charge combustion ignition engines over 30 years, which will lead to lower exhaust energy loss due to high-compression ratio and less dissipation loss due to throttle-less device. However, the big problem underlying gasoline auto-ignition is knocking phenomenon leading to strong noise and vibration. In order to overcome this problem, we propose the principle of colliding pulsed supermulti-jets. In a prototype engine developed by us, octagonal pulsed supermulti-jets collide and compress the air around the center point of combustion chamber, which leads to a hot spot area far from chamber walls. After generating the hot spot area, the mechanical compression of an asymmetric double piston unit is added in four-stroke operation, which brings auto-ignition of gasoline.

The design of spark plugs, critical for igniting the gas mixture in the combustion chamber, must catch up with the latest advances in automotive engine development because many improvements for higher efficiency and lower emissions make combustion more difficult to initiate. Spark plugs must maintain their function in both below freezing environments and high speed, high temperature operation. The performance of a spark plug is characterized by the shape of its firing end exposed in the combustion chamber and the layout of the insulator nose in the metal shell. This paper summarizes recent requirements for spark plugs, proposes a new firing end shape, and evaluates its performance. The relationship between geometric configuration and performance are evaluated on an actual engine. The results demonstrate improved spark plug performance, especially under the most extreme temperature conditions.

To meet the recent emission standard and fuel economy, it is required to scale down engine component sizes. For the ignition system, we would like to reduce the physical size of an ignition coil as well. However the present direct-ignition (DI) engine requires long spark duration time, and which makes difficult to reduce the physical size of the ignition coil. NTK developed a special method to achieve the goal. The presented paper introduces size reduction of the ignition coil and shortening the spark duration time for good ignition performance with the carbon fouling detection capability. Occurrence of the carbon fouling accompanies abnormal spark around the spark nose area always. Accordingly, this paper describes also a method detecting the abnormal spark, by using discharge current method or spark plug voltage. Furthermore, this paper describes the method of early detection of misfire and evasive control by detecting the abnormal spark.

Reducing friction in the crankshaft main bearings is an effective means of improving the fuel efficiency of reciprocating internal combustion engines. To realize these improvements, it is necessary to understand the lubricating conditions, in particular the oil film pressure distributions between crankshaft and bearings. In this study, we developed a thin-film pressure sensor and applied it to the measurement of engine main bearing oil film pressure in a 4-cylinder, 2.5 L gasoline engine. This thin-film sensor is applied directly to the bearing surface by sputtering, allowing for measurement of oil film pressure without changing the shape and rigidity of the bearing. Moreover, the sensor material and shape were optimized to minimize influence from strain and temperature on the oil film pressure measurement. Measurements were performed at the No. 2 and 5 main bearings.

A continuously variable valve event and lift (VEL) system, actuated by oscillating cams, can provide optimum lift and event angles matching the engine operating conditions, thereby improving fuel economy, exhaust emission performance and power output. The VEL system allows small lift and event angles even in the engine operating region where the required intake air volume is small and the influence of valvetrain friction is substantial, such as during idling. Therefore, the system can reduce friction to lower levels than conventional valvetrains, which works to improve fuel economy. On the other hand, a distinct feature of oscillating cams is that their sliding velocity is zero at the time of peak lift, which differs from the behavior of conventional rotating cams. For that reason, it is assumed that the friction and lubrication characteristics of oscillating cams may differ from those of conventional cams.

Research is under way on an engine system [1] that achieves a variable compression ratio using a multiple-link mechanism between the crankshaft and pistons for the dual purpose of improving fuel economy and power output. At present, there is no database that allows direct judgment of the feasibility of the specific sliding parts in this mechanism. In this paper, the feasibility was examined by making a comparison with the sliding characteristics and material properties of conventional engine parts, for which databases exist, and using evaluation parameters based on mixed elasto-hydrodynamic (EHD) lubrication calculations. In addition, the innovations made to the mixed EHD calculation method used in this study to facilitate calculations under various lubrication conditions are also explained, including the treatment of surface roughness, wear progress and stiffness around the bearings.

A direct injection system in which fuel was injected through the cylinder wall was developed and detailed investigation was made for the purpose of reducing short-circuit of fuel in 2-stroke engines. As a result of dynamo tests using 430cc single cylinder engine, it was found that the injector was best attached at a location as close to TDC as possible on the rear transfer port side, and that the entire amount of fuel should be injected towards the piston top surface. Emissions were worsened if fuel was injected towards the exhaust port or spark plug. Although the higher injection pressure resulted in large emissions reduction effects, it did not have a significant effect on fuel consumption. When a butterfly exhaust valve, known to be effective against irregular combustion in the light load range, was applied, it was found to lead to further reductions in HC emission and fuel consumption while also improving combustion stability.